Spiced Coucous and Chicken

This came together very quickly and was a good dinner to make on a busy soccer night.

Ingredients:
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, divided
1 tsp ground ginger
Salt and pepper
4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup couscous
2 cups coarsely shredded rotisserie chicken
3 T unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup golden raisins
4 scallions, white and light green parts only, roughly chopped
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for topping
Plain Greek yogurt, for topping

Instructions:
Bring 2 1/2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon, the ginger, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Add the carrots and cook until crisp tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the carrots, RESERVING THE COOKING LIQUID.

Put chicken and uncooked couscous in a medium bowl. Pour 1 cup of the hot cooking liquid on top. Stir, then cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for five minutes. Fluff couscous with fork when done.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the almonds, raisins, scallions, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Cook, stirring, until the almonds are toasted, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the cilantro.

Divide the couscous and chicken among bowls. Top with the carrots and more of the cooking liquid. Sprinkle with the almond mixture and more cilantro. Top with yogurt.

Did I change anything? Well, I didn’t read the recipe all the way through before I started (big mistake) and didn’t save all of the water left over from the carrots. Lesson learned.

What did the family think? Hubby and I really liked this. There are so many flavors, textures and smells going on with this dish…it was a nice surprise. The boys like all of the parts, but when you put them all together they were a little unsure. Our oldest ended up eating everything but the couscous. Our youngest ate the chicken and the carrots and maybe a raisin or two.

from Food Network magazine

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